Cave Formation: A Creationist Explanation
by Owen Borville
February 21, 2019
Geology
Limestone makes up about 10 percent of the Earth's exposed sedimentary rocks and within the limestone subsurface cavities known as caves or caverns commonly develop. The landscape which is made of limestone is known as karst and this landscape also contains features that have been eroded by acidic liquids including ridges, towers, fissures, and sinkholes. The vertical columns hanging from the ceiling of limestone caves are known as stalactites and the vertical columns which extend vertically upward from the cave floor are called stalagmites. Sometimes stalactites and stalagmites join together to form a solid column. As acidic water flows downward into the subsurface, the mineral calcite is dissolved into solution and when this solution enters the cave ceiling and drips, the stalactite forms vertical columns like icicles. Evolutionists have believed in the past that these features formed slowly over hundreds of thousands of years or millions of years according to uniform processes. However, creationists have evidence of rapid formation of these features in line with the Biblical timeline and Genesis Flood.
Clark Byers, director of Sequoia Caverns in Alabama, has observed stalactites grow about one inch per year. Byers has also found fossils inside the caverns, giving more evidence for the Genesis Flood. Stalactites have been found to form underneath man made features including bridges, tunnels, and beneath man-made concrete structures such as the Lincoln Memorial, giving evidence of their rapid formation within 100 years or less. The current rate of stalactite growth cannot be assumed to be constant throughout the existence of a particular stalactite sample or cavern system. Past conditions could have increased the rate of formation dramatically, including weather and climate conditions. The Genesis Flood would have added much water to the subsurface and cavern systems, greatly increasing the rate of stalactite formation. (1)
While acidic rainwater contains dissolved carbon dioxide that reacts with calcium carbonate and carries it into the solution, other types of acidic material could be responsible for cavern growth. Geologist Emil Silvestru believes that subsurface sulfuric acid from hydrothermal solutions produced by volcanic activity during the Genesis Flood some 4,600 years ago created the large underground cavern cavities observed today while the current rates of acidic rainwater flowing into these cavern systems have only added to the growth of the caverns, but at a smaller rate. (2) While evolutionists believe that these large caverns formed slowly and uniformly over millions of years as described in national parks featuring caverns and these evolutionists use their faulty radiometric dating techniques based on false assumptions, processes caused by the global catastrophic flood described in the Book of Genesis are ignored by evolutionists. Evolutionists continue to deny the occurrence of the global flood and continue to accept slow, gradual processes over millions of years based on uniformitarian assumptions.
(1) Weiland, Carl. Caving Into Reality. The shrinking ’age’ of stalactites and stalagmites. Creation 20(1):14. December 1997.
(2) Silvestru, Emil. Caves For All Seasons. Creation 25(3):44–49. June 2003.
by Owen Borville
February 21, 2019
Geology
Limestone makes up about 10 percent of the Earth's exposed sedimentary rocks and within the limestone subsurface cavities known as caves or caverns commonly develop. The landscape which is made of limestone is known as karst and this landscape also contains features that have been eroded by acidic liquids including ridges, towers, fissures, and sinkholes. The vertical columns hanging from the ceiling of limestone caves are known as stalactites and the vertical columns which extend vertically upward from the cave floor are called stalagmites. Sometimes stalactites and stalagmites join together to form a solid column. As acidic water flows downward into the subsurface, the mineral calcite is dissolved into solution and when this solution enters the cave ceiling and drips, the stalactite forms vertical columns like icicles. Evolutionists have believed in the past that these features formed slowly over hundreds of thousands of years or millions of years according to uniform processes. However, creationists have evidence of rapid formation of these features in line with the Biblical timeline and Genesis Flood.
Clark Byers, director of Sequoia Caverns in Alabama, has observed stalactites grow about one inch per year. Byers has also found fossils inside the caverns, giving more evidence for the Genesis Flood. Stalactites have been found to form underneath man made features including bridges, tunnels, and beneath man-made concrete structures such as the Lincoln Memorial, giving evidence of their rapid formation within 100 years or less. The current rate of stalactite growth cannot be assumed to be constant throughout the existence of a particular stalactite sample or cavern system. Past conditions could have increased the rate of formation dramatically, including weather and climate conditions. The Genesis Flood would have added much water to the subsurface and cavern systems, greatly increasing the rate of stalactite formation. (1)
While acidic rainwater contains dissolved carbon dioxide that reacts with calcium carbonate and carries it into the solution, other types of acidic material could be responsible for cavern growth. Geologist Emil Silvestru believes that subsurface sulfuric acid from hydrothermal solutions produced by volcanic activity during the Genesis Flood some 4,600 years ago created the large underground cavern cavities observed today while the current rates of acidic rainwater flowing into these cavern systems have only added to the growth of the caverns, but at a smaller rate. (2) While evolutionists believe that these large caverns formed slowly and uniformly over millions of years as described in national parks featuring caverns and these evolutionists use their faulty radiometric dating techniques based on false assumptions, processes caused by the global catastrophic flood described in the Book of Genesis are ignored by evolutionists. Evolutionists continue to deny the occurrence of the global flood and continue to accept slow, gradual processes over millions of years based on uniformitarian assumptions.
(1) Weiland, Carl. Caving Into Reality. The shrinking ’age’ of stalactites and stalagmites. Creation 20(1):14. December 1997.
(2) Silvestru, Emil. Caves For All Seasons. Creation 25(3):44–49. June 2003.
